Texsunburst59 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I'm new here on this forum. I do own several Gibsons,but I'm posting about my '63 ES-330 I picked up last week. I wasn't able to get a history from the original owner or owners, because I got it at a pawnshop. The guitar is missing an original high E nylon saddle,and has some replacement that's not right. For playing purposes,would I be better upgrading the bridge to a new bridge without nylon saddles? Anyone with 1st hand experience with one of these guitars? What did you do to get it stage ready if anything, or did you play it stock? Thanks for any help in advance. Here's some pics of the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 The guitar looks to be in very good shape for it's age. I don't know how much work you can do yourself, or if you are paying a tech to do it all, but... here's what I would do to make this guitar "stage ready": Replace the nylon saddle bridge, not because it has one mismatched saddle, but because it has five nylon saddles. The nylon saddle bridge was an "experiment" that came and went. A "no-wire" ABR-1 would be my first choice. The buttons on the Klusons are looking well aged in color. The next step in the aging process is off-gassing, deterioration, and crumbling to dust. For utilities sake, I would replace the tuners. Exact replacements, even with aged buttons, are readily available, and not very expensive. Leave the original bushings in place. Complete dis-assembly and cleaning (including/especially the electronics)- On a guitar of this age, I would remove the wiring harness and clean the pots with contact cleaner/de-oxit, and the contacts of the switch with emory cloth. Check all solder joints, wire routing, and bridge/tailpiece ground wire. While all the hardware and electronics are off the guitar it is real easy to give the wood a good cleaning. Depending on the amount of crud, a wipe down with naptha prior to a good polishing may be needed. Give special attention to all the cracks and crevices, as they don't get much attention on an assembled guitar. I would also vacuum out the body to make sure that the 50+ years of lint and dust are removed. This is also the time to dress/polish the frets and treat the fingerboard. It is also a good idea to evaluate the condition of the pickguard. Celluloid pickguards will all eventually chemically decompose in a process that has become known as "off-gassing". The gases emitted from this process eats metal, especially the plating, and the damage will first show up on the metal plating on the pickup covers nearest the pickguard. The first signs of deterioration will show up on the pickguard as light colored spots and/or spider cracks. If these are detected, it is best to replace the guard before any other damage occurs to the guitar. You can either have a new guard "pattern cut" using the old guard as a template, or buy a new one. I have found replacement guards sold in "AllParts" packaging to be of very high quality, equal or better than the Gibson originals. The key to buying any pre-made replacement guard is making sure the pickup cutouts are in the right places. Upon re-assembly a full "set-up" will be needed (truss rod, string height, intonation, etc, etc, etc), and your ready to rock. Keep all the "original" parts stored separately from the guitar and case, so in the event of sale, you can advertise "Original Parts". Even if the parts are not on the guitar, nothing mentioned above is invasive surgery, or non-reversible. The last thing to do is evaluate the condition/value of the case (if original). You may want to buy a high quality replacement case, especially if you're gigging it around. As TKL is the current supplier to Gibson for their OEM cases, a "plain label" TKL case can be purchased from a TKL retailer for a very reasonable price. I hope that helps. Enjoy the guitar, there is no reason why this guitar can't continue rock out for another 50 years or so. My oldest "working guitar" is a 1947 L-7, and I see no reason to retire it anytime soon. The guitar will most likely outlast me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsunburst59 Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 The guitar looks to be in very good shape for it's age. I don't know how much work you can do yourself, or if you are paying a tech to do it all, but... here's what I would do to make this guitar "stage ready": Replace the nylon saddle bridge, not because it has one mismatched saddle, but because it has five nylon saddles. The nylon saddle bridge was an "experiment" that came and went. A "no-wire" ABR-1 would be my first choice. The buttons on the Klusons are looking well aged in color. The next step in the aging process is off-gassing, deterioration, and crumbling to dust. For utilities sake, I would replace the tuners. Exact replacements, even with aged buttons, are readily available, and not very expensive. Leave the original bushings in place. Complete dis-assembly and cleaning (including/especially the electronics)- On a guitar of this age, I would remove the wiring harness and clean the pots with contact cleaner/de-oxit, and the contacts of the switch with emory cloth. Check all solder joints, wire routing, and bridge/tailpiece ground wire. While all the hardware and electronics are off the guitar it is real easy to give the wood a good cleaning. Depending on the amount of crud, a wipe down with naptha prior to a good polishing may be needed. Give special attention to all the cracks and crevices, as they don't get much attention on an assembled guitar. I would also vacuum out the body to make sure that the 50+ years of lint and dust are removed. This is also the time to dress/polish the frets and treat the fingerboard. It is also a good idea to evaluate the condition of the pickguard. Celluloid pickguards will all eventually chemically decompose in a process that has become known as "off-gassing". The gases emitted from this process eats metal, especially the plating, and the damage will first show up on the metal plating on the pickup covers nearest the pickguard. The first signs of deterioration will show up on the pickguard as light colored spots and/or spider cracks. If these are detected, it is best to replace the guard before any other damage occurs to the guitar. You can either have a new guard "pattern cut" using the old guard as a template, or buy a new one. I have found replacement guards sold in "AllParts" packaging to be of very high quality, equal or better than the Gibson originals. The key to buying any pre-made replacement guard is making sure the pickup cutouts are in the right places. Upon re-assembly a full "set-up" will be needed (truss rod, string height, intonation, etc, etc, etc), and your ready to rock. Keep all the "original" parts stored separately from the guitar and case, so in the event of sale, you can advertise "Original Parts". Even if the parts are not on the guitar, nothing mentioned above is invasive surgery, or non-reversible. The last thing to do is evaluate the condition/value of the case (if original). You may want to buy a high quality replacement case, especially if you're gigging it around. As TKL is the current supplier to Gibson for their OEM cases, a "plain label" TKL case can be purchased from a TKL retailer for a very reasonable price. I hope that helps. Enjoy the guitar, there is no reason why this guitar can't continue rock out for another 50 years or so. My oldest "working guitar" is a 1947 L-7, and I see no reason to retire it anytime soon. The guitar will most likely outlast me. WOW!!!. Thanks Larry. THIS was the kind of response I was looking for. I should be able to get my guitar tech to do all this TLC work on the guitar. I'm hoping I can get it to him and back ready to play in a few weeks. Very helpful info. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Great post from Larry. The only thing I tend to disagree with are the comments about the pickguard. Maybe the day is approaching where we have to be concerned about these black pickguards (I may be "out of the loop" in this regard), but I've never seen (not even a photo) or heard about one of those decomposing/offgassing (yet). It's the fancier faux-tortoise shell guards (vintage examples, that is, on models like the ES-355, L5, Byrdland, etc) that are the real ticking time bombs these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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